Words from the Founding Fathers
Now words from the Founding Fathers of this Nation
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Co-author of the Second Amendment
during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution, 1788
Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.
---Tenche Coxe, The Pennsylvania Gazette, Feb. 20, 1788.
"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full posession of them."
Zachariah Johnson
Elliot's Debates, vol. 3 "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution."
"The greatest danger to American freedom is a government that ignores the Constitution."
Thomas Jefferson
Third President of the United States
By thes very words we can see the thoughts of the Founding Fathers. That every free man have a weapon in defense of Freedom. The Fathers of this Country had a distrust of goverments and with good reason, a disarmed populace is at the every whim of a goverment turned tyrant that will not listen to the people who also have the right to abolish said goverment if this happened.
The Second Admendment is not about hunting or collecting, it is above all staying free and free men possesing weapons keeps the goverment in line if they should think otherwise.
[T]he Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to 'create' rights. Rather, they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be pre-existing."[10] This statement is particularly applicable to the right to keep and bear arms, which has been recognized as a personal right for centuries.[11]
This is from Justice Brennan United States v. Verdugo-Urquidez, a Fourth Amendment case, the Court made clear that all law-abiding Americans are protected by the Second Amendment.
In Perpich v. Department of Defense, the Court recognized that the National Guard is part of the Armed Forces of the United States and that the Reserve Militia includes all able-bodied citizens.
"By contrast, in legislation dating to 1916, "the statute expressly provided that the Army of the United States should include not only 'the Regular Army,' but also 'the National Guard while in the service of the United States' ...."[19] (p.135)Today's National Guard came into being through exercise by Congress of the power to raise armies,[20] not the power to organize the militia.
The Court referred to "the traditional understanding of the militia as a part-time, nonprofessional fighting force,"[21] and as "a body of armed citizens trained to military duty, who may be called out in certain cases, but may not be kept on service like standing armies, in time of peace."[22] The Court also recognized the existence of "all portions of the 'militia'--organized or not ...."[23]"
"In sum, it was clear enough to the Supreme Court in 1990 that "the people" in the Second Amendment means individuals generally, as it does in the rest of the Bill of Rights; that the "militia" means the body of armed citizens at large, organized and unorganized; and that the Second Amendment is not relevant to the power of a states to maintain the militia."
And This;
"By statutory definition, the National Guard is "that part of the organized militia of the several States" that is "armed ... wholly or partly at Federal expense" and "is federally recognized."[319] "In addition to its National Guard, if any, a State ... may, as provided by its laws, organize and maintain defense forces."[320] The U.S. Government issues arms to the National Guard, but not to the states' defense forces.[321] "So far as practicable, the same types of ... arms ... as are issued to the Army shall be issued to the Army National Guard ...."[322]
The availability of uniform arms to a portion of the state militias pursuant to the National Defense Act of 1916 greatly enhanced defense capabilities. As explained in Maryland for the Use of Levin v. United States:[323]
From the days of the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord until just before World War I, the various militias embodied the concept of a citizen army, but lacked the equipment and training necessary for their use as an integral part of the reserve force of the United States Armed Forces .... Pursuant to power vested in Congress by the Constitution [Art. I, section 8], the Guard was to be uniformed, equipped, and trained in much the same way as the regular army, subject to federal standards and capable of being "federalized" by units, rather than by drafting individual soldiers. In return, Congress authorized the allocation of federal equipment to the Guard ....[324]
The states are entitled to require members of their defense forces and reserve militias to provide themselves with the same arms which are used by the National Guard.
The ideal of a uniformity of arms for all militia members has been recognized since the Constitution was framed.
Based on the above, Congress has no power to prohibit possession of such militia arms as the states are entitled to require that its citizens or a part thereof furnish themselves with and keep in their homes. The states' concurrent power to organize and provide for arming their militias is a reserved power which (p.204)federal legislation may not contradict."
The material and commentary that follows is excerpted from Halbrook, Stephen P. "The Right of the People or the Power of the State Bearing Arms, Arming Militias, and the Second Amendment". Originally published as 26 Val. U. L.Rev. 131-207, 1991.
http://www.guncite.com/journals/val-hal.html
Quotes from the Founders During the Ratification Period of the Constitution
[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation...(where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
---James Madison,The Federalist Papers, No. 46.
As we can see the National Guard is not the militia and was never ment to be.
Nor to my satification can the Constitution be amended to what kind of weapon we the people can possess. This would go against the orignal intent of the Constitution itself.
When looking at the Constitution, everyone to include the courts and the Goverment must look at it from the standpoint of the Founding Fathers, period. This canot be changed.
This whole country began with resistance to gun control. The American Revolution began on the morning of April 19, 1775, when British troops marched on the road to Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, to seize the weapons and ammunition of the colonists. The colonists, much to the surprise of the British, fought back. The results of this action, fought at Concord Bridge, were the "shot heard 'round the world" against the tyranny of King George III, and the eventual independence of the United States.
The social contract which created the legal foundations for our Republic is called the Constitution of the United States. Appended to it is a Bill of Rights, which enumerates a list of some of the more important examples of our inalienable and inherent rights.
These rights can not be "taken away", nor can these amendments be repealed without breaking the social contract that the Constitution embodies.
And I leave you with this from By Dean Alfange, From The Flying W Ranch, Colorado Springs, CO
My Creed
" I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon. I seek to develop whatever talents God gave me—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any earthly master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say – ‘This, with God’s help, I have done.’ All this is what it means to be an American."
Not much else need be said.